Feeding the Hungry John 6.1-21 Child Poverty in Aotearoa NZ

Sunday 29 July2012

Feeding a crowd

Year B - Pentecost 9 - 49B

The Mission of the MethodistChurch of New Zealand / Our Church’s mission in Aotearoa / New Zealand is to reflect and proclaim the transforming love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ and declared in the Scriptures. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve God in the world. The Treaty of Waitangi is the covenant establishing our nation on the basis of a power-sharing partnership and will guide how we undertake mission.
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Readings
Introduction
Broaderpreparation
Creativity
Preaching thoughts
Illustrations
Music
Prayers
Communal sharing
Children
PowerPoint
Readings
Ctrl+Click to follow links / 2 Samuel 11.1-15King David plots Uriah’s death to cover his tracks after having an adulterous affair with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba.
Psalm 14A psalm of David about foolish and evil people. Only a fool would ignore the Lord.
Ephesians 3.14-21Paul re-assures the believers at Ephesus of Christ’s love for them. He prays that the church will forever give praise to God who gives life to all things in heaven and on earth.
John6.1-21Jesus turned five loaves and two fish into a meal for a crowd of thousands as a “sign” of who he really is. After everyone had eaten, the disciples collected twelve baskets of leftovers. That evening the disciples got into a boat and started rowing to the other side of the lake. Jesus came to them walking on the water.
Introduction / Background
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/ Loaves and fishes
The miracle of the loaves and fishes is the only one performed by Jesus that is recorded in all four gospels You will find it inMatthew 14.13-21; Mark 6.30-44; Luke 9.10-17 and John 6.1-21. All the gospels make reference to the five loaves and two fish as well as the twelve baskets of leftovers. All also mention the 5,000 men present, with Matthew adding“besides women and children”. Only John adds the delightful detail that thefive loaves and two fish were a little boy’s lunch.
Both Matthew and Mark have, in addition, a similar miracle (Matthew 15.32-39 and Mark 8.1-9) of Jesus feeding 4,000 with seven loaves and several fish. On this second occasion seven baskets of leftovers were collected
Once again, studying the text using this parallels tool provided by the University of Toronto will give you a range of interesting comparisons.
A sign
A unique feature of the fourth gospel is that John consistently uses the word “sign” rather than “miracle”. In today’s reading it is in John 6.14. But this is a distinction that is lost in some English translations, notably the Good News Bible (GNB) and Contemporary English Version (CEV). Of all the miracles that Jesus performed, John chooses to tell us about only seven. For John, these are events that point to something. They tell us something about who Jesus is.
Holy communion
Our gospel passage today is a good one to combine with a service of holy communion.
Broader / Personal
Preparation / Five loaves two fish
There is an excellent children’s song called “Five loaves two fish” on the Jungle Jamboree album by Pattycake Praise (Integrity Music 1995). We have used this very successfully as a congregational song in family services and with pre-schoolers in Mainly Music groups.
Creativity /
Visual Aids
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/ Make a sign
Make a sign to reinforce the points from the message and John’s use of the word “sign”. (see above). You can do this several ways:
The stationery shop has little “Velcro dots” that allow things to be stuck to surfaces and then removed again without damaging the surface. These are great to have in the cupboard as they afford flexibility and have many uses.So make the signs from cardboard and stick them to the wall with Velcro dots.
Or, if you use a data-projector, you could project the sign and use “transitions” in the PowerPoint program to add the points one at a time.
Or you could use a whiteboard, blackboard or flannel-graph.
Or, of course, you could have anactual wooden sign.
As you come to each point of the message get someone to physically attach that sign onto your signboard.
Preaching thoughts and Questions
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On 31 July 2011 “10 Minutes on a Tuesday” dealt with the multiplication of the loaves and fishes as it is recorded in Matthew’s gospel. See the 10 minutes archives for another complete range of service ideas.
Also, see another approach to today’s readingin the 29 July 2012 sermon on Bill Peddie’s website
/ You arrive home from work. It’s been a hard day. You’re tired and would like to just put your feet up and watch the television. But… you’ve got to get tea for the family. You have a quick look in the freezer. Fish fingers look easy, so you pop a few under the grill and put some jacket potatoes in the microwave.
Sorted!
It’s just another ordinary evening.
Then… ding-dong… and laughter from the front door. Friends have dropped in. There are three of them - and you’re pleased to see them.
“Come in.”
“We haven’t caught you at a bad time?”
“No. Come in, I was just getting tea on – why don’t you join us.”
“We wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble.”
“No trouble – honest.”
Back to the freezer. You’ve got one of those 40 packs of fish fingers, so you just put some more on… and quickly scrub a few more spuds to add them to those in the microwave. Then… ding-dong.
“Would one of you get that?”
It’s Aunty Joyce, Uncle Bruce and the cousins. They come in…
“What’s cooking?”
You empty the box of fish fingers into the oven. It’s not going to be enough. So you send one of the kids down to the dairy to get another box while you rush down to get some more potatoes from the sack.
Ding-dong… ding-dong.
From the window you can see friends from Whangarei arriving at your front door… and nana and granddad’s car is just pulling up too.
Walking up the driveway are some friends from church… just behind them are some of your workmates.
Up the street there are friends and acquaintances of every sort… and they’re all heading towards your place.
There’s hundreds… no… thousands of them. How on earth will you cope?
Such is the situation that Jesus faced with the disciples when thousands of hungry people came to see and hear him.
John tells us what happened was a sign. But if it was a sign, what was it pointing to?
For us, it points to some things that we can do. First of all we can…
Bring someone to Jesus
The disciples were faced with an impossible situation. Jesus had tried to escape the crowd by boat across the lake. But from the shore it was easy to see which way he was heading, and the crowds walkedaround the lake front to meet him. It was a long walk. The crowd was tired and hungry and they were in a remote location. What could they do?
Phillip only added to the problem by doing some financial calculations. He worked out that it would take almost a year’s wages to buy only a little bread for each of these people.
Andrew was a bit more helpful. He declared, “I’ve got a boy here who has five small loaves of barley bread and two pickled fish. But what good is that with all these people?”
When Andrew brought the boy to Jesus, Jesus did the wonderful and unexpected thing.
And it is still happening.
Wonderful changes happen when people are brought to Jesus. It is a most joyful thing to behold when people first become aware of the power of the Living Christ!
Do you have people that you can bring to Jesus? When the timing is right that introduction to Jesus can bring about a wonderful transformation. Do you have friends in apparently impossible situations? Bring them to Jesus in prayer.
This story is a sign of what can happen when we bring someone to Jesus.
But it is more than that. It also shows us to…
Give what we have
A boy gave up his lunch. It was a little… nowhere near enough.
But, to Jesus, a little was enough. Jesus said, “Have everyone sit down.”
There on the fresh spring grass Jesus fed the crowd of thousands. And all it took was five barley loaves and two small fish.
Small things, small gifts, in the hands of Jesus can be the source of great power to help other people.
What can we bring to Jesus? If we offer him nothing, he can do nothing through us. Could we offer him an ability to…
help a neighbour?
visit a sick person?
listen to a problem?
bake a cake?
make an apology?
sing a song?
lead a youth group?
There is no saying the wonderful things that could happen if Christ could do what he wished through us. There are no limits to the possibilities and probabilities when God begins to work his purposes out.
As we allow him to use our broken lives, he has the power to form and transform; to fashion and re-fashion. He enables us to do things that we never thought possible.
The story is a sign of what happens when we give to Christ what we have.
Finally, it encourages us to…
Share Christ’s concern for the crowd
God loves people. This is nowhere better demonstrated than in the ministry of Jesus. The crowd has spontaneously followed Jesus, making no preparation for their trek. They ended up tired and hungry.
Jesus wasn’t just interested in teaching them. He was concerned to feed them. His heart goes out to the weary, and the hungry, as well as the lost. He is concerned with the whole of our lives – not just the spiritual dimension. He is interested in Monday to Saturday – not just Sunday mornings. Of course, he is involved when we pray and worship and seek to understand the Word of God… but he also wants to be involved with our work, family, flat mates, our need for food, exercise and relaxation – the whole of life!
And he sends us, his present day disciples, out to seek the bread to feed the needy; to be a voice for the oppressed and the powerless.
Jesus took bread, broke it, and multiplied it to supply the needs of all. We are right to see in this act a foreshadowing of the Last Supper. On that occasion Jesus took bread and broke it, explaining that this was his body broken for us, broken to supply our needs, broken to bring us wholeness. It also foreshadows that other occasion when, after meeting two disciples and walking and talking with them on the road to Emmaus, they recognized him as he broke bread and shared it with them.
When we share God’s concern for the crowd, begin to meet their needs, show compassion and feed the hungry,then the presence of Christ is recognized among us.
So… it’s a story of a crowd being fed on a grassy bank. But it is also a sign that points to some things that we can do:
Bring someone to Jesus,
give what we have and
share Christ’s concern for the crowd
Illustrations / Stories
/ Feeding the hungry
We, in the West, have a vested interest in perpetuating the myth that the limited resources of the world mean that many will starve. The story of Jesus feeding the crowd shows the myth to be a lie. By feeding a crowd with a little boy’s lunch, Jesus demonstrates forus how the simple act of sharing can tap in to the power of God.
“The world economic crisis is the greatest unfolding investigative story ever still to be completely told. People are living in a criminal system masquerading as ‘free market economics’. But is the corporate media equipped to tackle this?”
Anita McNaught quoted in The New Zealand Herald Thursday 12 July, 2012.
“The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.”
Mahatma Gandhi
“If, then, we repeat Jesus’ command (‘You give them something to eat’) that doesn’t just mean ‘work a bit harder at famine relief’, though that would certainly help. It will also mean that those who discover the living God in and through Jesus must be prepared to face up to the evil structures and powers that still dominate and control so much of God’s world, and to challenge them in the name of Jesus with the power of his victory on the cross.”
NT Wright, Mark for Everyone (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004) 80.
Music
AA: Alleluia Aotearoa
CMP: CompleteMission Praise
HIOS: Hope is our Song
FFS: Faith Forever Singing
MHB: Methodist Hymn Book
H&P: Hymns and Psalms
S1: The Source
S2: The Source 2
S3: The Source 3
SIS: Scripture in Song
WHV: With heart and Voice
WOV: With One Voice / Hymns & Songs
5000+ hungry folk S1 107
Alleluia sing to Jesus WOV 439; H&P 592
Bread of heaven on you we feed MHB 769; WOV 434
Bread of life S3 1154
Bread of the world in mercy broken MHB 756; WOV 437; H&P 599
Break now the bread of life MHB 309; WOV 334; H&P 467; CMP 64
Broken for me, broken for you CMP 66
Brother, sister let me serve you SIS 256; AA 8
Christ is the heavenly food WOV 445
Christians are all kinds of HIOS 16
Come to the feast HIOS 20
Feed us now O Son of God WOV 565
Guide me O thou great Jehovah MHB 615; WOV 478; H&P 437; CMP 201;
S2 708
Hear our prayer S2 713
He brought me to his banqueting table CMP 837; S1 152
He’s all I need SIS 2
How much am I worth? HIOS 63
I get so thrilled with Jesus SIS 9
Jesus if we aright confess MHB 785
Jesus the Lord said, I am the bread WOV 185; H&P 137; CMP 384
Let us break bread together WOV 433; H&P 615; CMP 414
My God is so big S1 420
Now let us from this table rise WOV 450; H&P 619
Take our bread SIS 25
The bread is blessed HIOS 131
This table is the Lord’s FFS 64
Prayers
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Feeding the hungry John 6.1-21 Child poverty in Aotearoa NZ

It’s nice to have some marmalade,
but raspberry jam will do.
Manuka honey is a healing aid,
peanut butter a crunchy chew.
There’s more that I can mention,
on what and how to spread,
it’s no dilemma for our children,
still waiting for their bread.
Together:
God, Jesus fed the hungry
from the lunchbox of a boy.
Supply us with the love to share,
that all may be fed.
Amen.
© John Howell (used with permission)
Gracious God,
your Son Jesus Christ fed the hungry
with the bread of life
and the word of your kingdom.
Renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your true and living bread,
even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
© The Methodist Worship Book (Peterborough, England: Methodist Publishing House, 1999)
Bread of life
Living Lord, when we believe in you,
you satisfy our deepest longings
you sustain us, strengthen us
and fill us with yourself.
We get swept up in this Good News
and desire that others would
also taste the Bread of Life
and share the joy that belongs to all who trust in you
Yet so often we find ourselves tongue-tied
shackled by our love of things
or responding only half-heartedly
to your whole-hearted love
Forgive us Lord
Help us to come again believing
that you are the bread that gives life
and find in you life eternal. Amen.
© Andrew Gamman
More prayers written in an Australian context by MoiraLaidlaw.
Communal
Sharing
/ Bring-and-share lunch
Given today’stheme, it would be good to encourage people to stay for a fellowshiplunch following the service. Ask everyone to bring a plate of food to contribute to the meal. If people bring a bit more than they would eat themselves, there will be enough to go around those who haven’t come prepared. Make sure visitors are invited to stay on.
Children
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follow links / Signs
Bring along a display of New Zealand road signs. You’ll find the ones below, as well as many others, on the New Zealand AtoZ website. See if the children can tell you what each of them means. When you are driving a car, it is really important to read the signs. We can get into trouble if we don’t know what they mean.
Tell, or read from a Children’s Bible, the story of the loaves and fishes (John 6.1-14). Jesus used a little boy’s lunch to feed a crowd of 5,000 men plus women and children. John said it was a sign (John 16.14). It was a sign that pointed to the fact that Jesus was someone special. He was God’s Son.

More resources for children from sermons4kids.com
PowerPoint
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follow links / Christian Art:
Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647) Miracle of the bread and fish.
Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644) Miracle of the leaves and fishes
The Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1413).
Five loaves and two fish ‘sketch and tell’ video on YouTube

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